Large-scale isotopic fingerprinting of cryosphere and hydrological components in glacierized catchments

Abstract

The database compiled in this study represents the first global, harmonized collection of stable water isotope (SWI) measurements across cryosphere and hydrological endmembers in glacierized catchments. It contains 12,348 individual records sourced from 63 peer‑reviewed publications, as well as unpublished datasets contributed directly by the authors. The temporal coverage spans from 1981 to 2025, ensuring both historical and contemporary representation of isotopic conditions in glacier environments. Each entry in the database is described by 44 standardized fields, grouped into four main categories: Bibliographic metadata – data owner, publication year, citation, and publication status. Geographical metadata – continent, country, catchment, glacier name, basin, and coordinates. Sampling details – sample type,sampling period, elevation, and remarks. Isotope data – δ¹⁸O, δ²H, d‑excess, analytical method, measurement error, and uncertainty. The database integrates Cryosphere and hydrological endmembers, covering precipitation (solid and liquid), snowpack melt, glacier meltwater, glacier ice, supraglacial meltwater, talus‑slope water, rock‑glacier outflow, groundwater, lakes, firn, permafrost thaw, and ice‑cored moraine meltwater. The stable water isotopes data was generated primarily using CRDS (7,733 δ¹⁸O measurements), IRMS (2,702), OA-ICOS (418) with mean uncertainties of 0.13‰ for δ¹⁸O and 0.49‰ for δ²H. Outliers are flagged but not removed, preserving the raw data integrity.Geographically, the records span six continents and 20 countries, with strong representation in Europe (5,899 records), Asia (3,132), and North America (3,022), and smaller datasets from South America, Africa, and Oceania. Study locations predominantly include mountain regions where surface waters interact directly with glaciers, excluding most polar systems with limited terrestrial hydrology.Overall, this database provides the most comprehensive global synthesis of isotopic signatures from glacierized catchments. It supports applications such as: endmember mixing and hydrograph separation, calibration of isotope‑enabled hydrological models, assessment of moisture sources and continental climate gradients, reconstruction of past hydroclimatic processes using modern–paleoclimate linkages, development of AI‑driven predictive models of cryosphere–hydrology interactions.